Girl Meets Mistakes
by DefineInteresting3945
Summary: How will the gang handle it when Riley and Charlie are caught together.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 -

"Maya, did you lock Riley in the closet again?" Corey Matthews stood into the center of his classroom and stared down at the blonde girl.

"Don't look at me. She was catching a ride with you this morning. She said you cried and begged that you needed some father daughter time. " Maya quickly shot back.

Corey started shaking his head. "No no no. She left early and walked with you. Stop trying to cover your tracks. Where is she?"

Slowly the two came to the realization that neither was lying. Frozen with the knowledge that Riley had lied and it had been completely believable.

"Farkle?" "Nope haven't seen her"

"Lucas?" "Me neither."

"Other background people" Everyone began to shake their heads in sync.

"Oh no, what if she's been kidnapped? Being held for ransom. I can't afford a ransom on my salary. Maybe I can sell the house." Corey was slowly started to get louder and more ridiculous in the scenarios that he was imagining.

"Sir" Farkle's hand shot up into the air and then, like usual, he proceeded to continue without waiting to be called upon "maybe instead of freaking out, you should call her phone. I mean we all have phones, and she probably has her on her, because that's the way our generation is."

"For once, I think… I can't believe I'm saying this…weshoulddowhatfarklesaid." Maya didn't know how to process this new world. Riley was lying and she wanted to follow Farkle's ideas. She grabbed her phone from her bag and dialed the number by heart. Her phone lit up with a picture of the two best friends on the first day of school. Maya smiled every time that she saw the picture.

""""You are my Sunshine, My Only Sunshine, You Make me Happy, When Skies are Grey""""

Such a happy song could only be the ringtone of one person. The whole class was silent as they followed the ringing. Out the classroom, into the hallway, up the stairs and all the way up to the old janitor's closet. Maya stopped with her hand on the door but she couldn't bring herself to open it. Lucas stepped up behind her and turned the handle himself. The sight that lay before them shocked everyone.

Riley stood in the closet trying her best to hide behind Charlie Gardner. It was evident that they had been doing a lot of kissing as their lips were red and their hair was very tussled. Everyone stood wide eyed at the scene before them.

Maya couldn't comprehend all that was happening. Riley had lied. Riley was in a closet. Riley was in a closet with a boy doing things that she didn't even know Riley knew about.

Corey couldn't believe that his little girl was in a closet with a boy. She had skipped his class in order to spend time with a boy, in a closet!

Farkle and Lucas both stood frozen with shock.

Riley couldn't believe that she had been caught by her entire class. She and Charlie had only started spending time together a month ago. They didn't want all the pressure or questions from everyone so they decided to keep it a secret, at least until they had answers to give people. So far it had been great. Holding hands under the table, sneaking out to spend time together, and passing notes that no one else knew the content of. It was fun. Charlie had made her leave her comfort zone and Riley was actually doing okay with it. She was enjoying all aspects of being with Charlie.

The rest of the class ran away. They knew something was about to go down, and they did not want to be around for the fallout.

Chapter 2 –

"Riley, this is so irresponsible. I'm disappointed in you." The fact that Riley had been making out with a boy made him sad. It made him miss the good old days of boys having cooties. The fact that she had lied and skipped school was something that he couldn't get passed. He turned and walked back to his classroom. Head down, saddened by the way that his daughter was acting.

Riley walked a few steps in the direction that her father was leaving. She had never seen him this way before. Even when she screwed up, he was always there to help her see things through.

"What have I done? How do I fix it?" Riley's eyes started to tear up.

"It'll be okay honey. Come here." Maya held out her arms in preparation for the onslaught of tears she knew were about to come. Riley flew in her direction but instead of Mayas arms, she went straight to Charlie.

Maya stood there, flabbergasted by this new development as Charlie stroked Riley's back, whispering reassurances in her ear. While Charlie and Riley were focused on each other, everyone else was focused on the two of them. Never in the history of John Quincy Adams Middle School had Riley picked someone else over Maya.

Maya stared at her open hands. It was almost as if she could will Riley into her hug.

"WHAT THE FEENEY JUST HAPPENED? CHARLIE AND RILEY TOGETHER? MAYA AND RILEY ARE SDFVJSNVJS" Farkle lost his cool, luckily Lucas had enough sense to do his job. His job of shutting Farkle up when something shouldn't be said. He was only too slow to react because he was frozen with shock.

Lucas knew that there was something happening between the two since the semi-formal, but he was convinced that it was once sided. Riley was an amazing person who inspired everyone but Lucas knew that they had a much deeper bond. Their unofficial togetherness is what kept him from ever pursuing anything more. He thought he had her tucked away until they were at a time in their lives when it would all work out perfectly.

"Look guys, schools over for now. Why don't we all go home…" Lucas gave a pointed look at Riley and Charlie "to our separate homes, and calm down. I mean, we can't let this little mistake ruin all our relationships with each other."

Everyone nodded their heads, knowing that their connection to each other was the most important thing. They started to walk to the exit when Riley suddenly stopped.

"Wait a minute. What mistake?"

"Well, all the ones that you've made. Kissing Charlie, not hugging Maya, wearing that shit with those shoes…." Farkle was starting to list more but for once he noticed that everyone was staring at him with their mouths agape. "But you know. We all make mistakes"

Now the tears really did start and Riley ran away as fast as she could. Three of the four present took a step to go after her while Farkle took a step back to look at the situation.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 3 –

The bay window was closed. What was this madness? Maya knew she had to be the first one to get to Riley and figure out what was going on. She needed Riley to explain that Charlie had some strange disease where he needed to be hugged every 5 min. or something along those lines. There needed be a good reason why she went to him first. First, Maya knocked politely. Once. She was Maya after all so one polite knock was followed by several loud thuds. Soon the window was opened by Corey.

"Come on in kid. She's not here, but the others used the front door like civilized people and are in the living room. You wouldn't happen to know where Riley is, do you?"

"No. My first guess was the bay window, that's why I came here. Duh! But why don't you just ask him!" Maya had gotten to the living room and pointed a very accusing finger in Charlie's direction.

"What, why him? I'm the guy that knows her better. One kiss doesn't really mean they …." Lucas began but was cut off.

"Kissed!" Corey didn't want to hear this.

"We've kissed more than once. Technically we've been in a secret relationship for the past month. Not that any of you pay enough attention to notice. You all think just because she is happy, that she is okay, well she isn't. Just so you know. Also, I do know where she is." Charlie sat back on the couch.

Suddenly he was yanked up and pulled into different directions. Maya had a hold of his shirt "Where is she pretty boy? What have you done to her?" Lucas's hand was squeezing his shoulder very tightly. "It would be in your best interest to tell us, right now!"

Charlie shook them all off and turned to Maya. "You have to promise to not be mad at her. That's basically her biggest fear."

"ME!" Maya was shocked. Riley was the one who had kept secrets. Riley was the one who had lied to her. "She's the one that is clearly mad at me. Or else she wouldn't have kept you little monster hidden in the closet!"

"Well, she thinks that you're going to hate her. She had her reasons for not telling you, and I'm here right now to make sure that you listen to her without getting angry. "Charlie stated.

Maya couldn't believe what she was hearing. Things were becoming all topsy-turvy and all she wanted was to talk things out with her best friend. "I promise. I will be calm. I will be nice. Just please tell me where she is!"

"I believe you, but no one else can know. Lean closer" Charlie whispered Riley's location in Maya's ear.

"Hold up! How come I can't know? She's my friend too. I have things to talk to her about too!" Lucas finally spoke up

Charlie began to look a little sheepish "Technically I know where she is so that I could tell her parents and they wouldn't freak out. I wasn't actually supposed to tell anyone, but Maya doesn't count in my opinion. She's not just anyone to Riley, she's her best friend. You on the other hand dude, you may be my friend, but you're also competition for Riley. I'll take whatever advantage I can get in order to keep her."

"But Riley and I are endgame. Its basic fate that we will be together in the end."

Charlie just laughed and gave a little shake of his head. "Riley's fate is up to her. No one can tell her what to do or who to be with… except maybe you, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews. Now Maya, I need you to pretend that you found her by yourself. Please. She needs you more than you think."

Chapter 4 –

Maya raced to Riley.

All the while thinking that this should have been the first place she should have looked. As young children growing up in New York City, the girls had made an escape plan for if disaster ever struck. They had grown up in a time when real and imagined threats were a constant struggle.

Thus, if something ever happened, they would escape to a treehouse they had found in the woods by the school. They spent many summers growing up hidden away, going through life's changes together.

This was where Riley had found Maya when her dad had first left them. This was where Riley had found Maya when she had nightmares because her mother had to work an overnight shift and leave Maya home alone.

Maya had always thought that Riley's life was too perfect to ever need to escape it. Now she knew, there was no such thing as perfect. Everyone had secrets, everyone had moments of doubt.

"Honey, Sweetie, Are you there?"

"Peaches, I'm so sorry, please forgive me, I didn't mean to lie…" Maya quickly cut off Riley's ramblings and began her ascent up the tree.

There wasn't a ladder, which was probably why they usually had the place to themselves, so the girls had figured out early on, which branches would hold and which ones were too far out of reach.

When she finally reached the top she was instantly pulled into a hug by her best friend in the whole world.

"I'm so sorry, please forgive me. I didn't mean to lie…" Riley began her ramble all over again and was once again stopped.

"Honey, I'm not mad at you. Are you mad at me?" Maya knew she had to be the voice of reason right now. But she also knew that she had to tell the truth.

"What! Of course not. I only kept Charlie a secret because I didn't want you to be mad that I wanted to keep him a secret from everyone else. I also don't really know how you feel about him, but I really like him, and if you didn't like him, well that would make me question just about everything…." Riley paused to take a breath.

Maya knew that given half a chance, Riley would continue on and on, so she had to interject at the moment that a breath was taken.

"I want you to be happy. That's it. That is my entire wish for you. And not just happy at the sunshine or rainbows but pure, in your soul, painting cats, happy. The kind of happy where even when you're feeling low, you've still got that happiness within you." Maya truly wanted the best for Riley

Riley smiled. Glad that her friend would support her decisions no matter what. "You think I'm making a right choice with Charlie? Or should I wait around for Lucas?"

"Truthfully," Maya paused, hoping that this wouldn't change anything too much, "I think you and Lucas had a crush when you were just children. He was the adorable cowboy that you were supposed to like. He was the safe choice for a crush because you knew he couldn't do anything wrong. And I think we are more mature now. I think Charlie is the type of person who will be compatible with you. The beautiful person that you are needs someone real to love you, not just an image of what that person should be. Besides you'd get bored of Lucas. I mean those good looks, good manners, good skills, good hands, its all just too good."

Riley smiled as she finally had confirmation of what she had suspected for quite some time. After Lucas had stood up for the reinstating of the Art classes, all just to make Maya happy. Riley knew that her friends thought she was oblivious, but that just made it easier to see what was really there.

Riley also knew that they would never tell her, or do anything on their own. They were too protective of her feelings. Now she just needed a plan to get them to admit everything, without ever knowing she was the mastermind. Obviously she needed some help with her plan.


End file.
